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| Responsible Department | Department of Agriculture and Ecology
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| Research School | Agriculture and Ecology (AGREC) |
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| Course Dates | 1-5 November 2010, Fall 2012 |
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| Course Abstract | The aim of the course is to present recent advances and new, experimental techniques to study microbial diversity, growth, metabolic activity and interaction/communication in complex communities with an emphasis on both environmental (e.g. soil, surface water and groundwater) and selected production systems. |
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| Course Registration | Participation is granted by application. Free form application to Mette H Nicolaisen, meni@life.ku.dk. Applications must contain short CV (name, postal and e-mail address, phone number, university affiliation, Ph.D. study number if available) and a brief (max. 200 words) abstract of the applicants Ph.D. project. |
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| Deadline for Registration | 15 August 2010 (for course in November 2010) |
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| Credits | 6 (ECTS) |
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| Level of Course | PhD course |
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| Organisation of Teaching | Department of Agriculture and Ecology, Genetics and Microbiology Group, KU-LIFE |
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| Language of Instruction | English |
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| Restrictions | The course is held only on request by a minimum of 16 applicants. The course has a maximum of 24 participants, selected to obtain a broad distribution of student and ph.d. project backgrounds. |
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| Course Content |
| The course is based on practical exercises and lectures to demonstrate recent advancements to study bacterial communities and their activity in complex environments. Exercises will cover detection and quantification of specific genes and gene expression by quantitative real-time PCR and RT-PCR, whereas genetic diversity will be described using fingerprinting techniques (DGGE and/or ARDRA). Cell activity will be assessed at the DNA and protein level using BrdU and Leucine incorporation, respectively. |
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| Teaching and learning Methods |
| The course is divided into three parts: A. Preparation of a poster (to be presented during the course week), taking place at the home institution (work load: 1 week); B. A 5-day, full-time experimental course (work load: 1 week) with laboratory exercises (80%), seminars (10%) and colloquia/discussion classes (10%), takining place at KU-LIFE; C. Preparation of course report (work load: 1 week), taking place at the home institution. |
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| Learning Outcome |
| The participants will gain hands-on experience with the presented methods, as well as a thorough understanding of the methods at a more theoretical level, in order to be able to critically evaluate data generated using the presented methods. |
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| Course Material |
| Laboratory manual and scientific articles (handouts) |
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| Course Coordinator |
| Mette Haubjerg Nicolaisen, meni@life.ku.dk, Department of Agriculture and Ecology/Section of Genetics and Microbiology, Phone: 353-32649 |
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| Course Fee |
| None |
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| Course Costs |
| None |
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| Type of Evaluation |
| Preparation of poster (from Ph.D. project) to be presented at the course. Active participation in the course including preparation of written report. |
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| Work Load |
| lectures | 10 | | theoretical exercises | 0 | | practicals | 30 | | preparation | 40 | | examination | 40 | | Colloquia | 0 | | Excursions | 0 | | project work | 0 | | supervision | 0 |
| | 120 |
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